Interview Faculty of Arts and Applied Arts, Chulalonkorn University, Thailand

 Simple images that can communicate something complex can be very powerful.The word ‘graphics’ has become synonymous with branding and advertising but i would like to think theres more potential for it that just that. At their best they can communicate complex ideas without language and their meaning can be universal

When i was in college i first wanted to study fine art and work on my own projects but when i saw the creative potential in computers i wanted to do graphic design. The graphic design department was the only department that had any computers at that time.  The possibilities and flexibility with digital imagery was very new. Really there was no illustrators or certainly very few of them using computers then, but i liked the though of having so much creative control in making images and also the possibilities with motion graphics and the web. It was really just starting then and seemed very exciting.

The only problem was i didn’t really like the graphic design course, i wasn’t so interested in the branding /packaging/ advertising side to it.

Flexible in that they are able to apply themselves to many different projects, ie books and animations and murals but also they must be able to do each one well and bring something new and interesting to each project

All sorts of styles really

I dont have a specific target audience

I have done a very basic childrens book for 3 year olds but also i regularly do quite abstruse work for the european business magazine, it really depends as long as i feel i can add something to a project and i can get excited about it i can work for all sorts of ages and styles

Lots of different areas but i suppose my main inspiration is folk art, I love abstracted and free approach to drawings and representation.

Maps/ textiles/symbols etc everything that i pick up that come from a less conventional approach to image making i find is inspiring

for example i recently i saw some very old maps from turkish and islamic manuscipts where half of the map is like a map but then they are mixed with realistic images of people and buildings, that sort of approach i think can often communicate much more than any sort of representational image. also i look at textile designs and patterning and i try to incorporate that sort of imagery into more figurative images to make them more decorative and playful

I definitely think that the more research that i do for each image the better it will work as an image. sometimes i start off without enough material to work from and i can feel the image is looking a little weak and in that case ill have to stop work and go out and find some new inspiration or directions to go in

When i am given the brief i will try to visualise the best way i can approach the project. Sometimes if the brief is tight or unimaginative it takes a bit of imagination on my part to come up with something interesting, but almost always there is some way to do some nice work from even a very conservative brief.

Often its difficult when the client comes back and asks to change it in a way that i dont want to go in. its takes a lot of imagination to keep up the excitement for producing something interesting alive when you are knocked down several times, but unless you keep going and keep trying something new that both you and the client will be happy with you will end up with a mediocre image that the client might like but that you won’t be happy with.

I think the only way to do the work that you really want to do, is to do the work that you really want to do and get them seen by the right people.

For example if what you really want to do is be a music videos director you first have to make one or two good music videos. Once you have done that and get them online or out and about youll get the work that you set out to get. otherwise as a designer you tend to get stuck in an area that you didnt set out to be in and that can be very frustrating.

Doing something like that sort of involves a lot of sacrifice and work up-front and unpaid but once you do that and can make something that you are really happy with, chances are others will really like it too and you can get work from them Every time i want to do something new i need to do something like that. For example i wanted to design some repeat pattern textile designs because i thought it would be an interesting area to work in and i had a few ideas for some designs.

But in order to get work in that area i first had to do a few designs so that i could show people what i had in mind. Then, inevitably once I started off in this new area I discovered that its much more complicated and challenging than I had originally thought. Repeated patterns are actually quite difficult to do well, its very easy to to create a nice decorative image but to have it repeating smoothly and in an attractive way took more work than i had thought. Starting off something like that takes time and also self discipline because you are working without money or a deadline.

The same was true when i wanted to break into doing children’s books. I first had to do a story of my own that i was happy with, things like that take a long time but if you can do something new once in a while it ensures that you will not get bored or tired of the work that you do.